Our FIRE lifestyle is one where we work because we WANT to, not because we NEED to, and therefore are able to create a more flexible schedule that allows us to spend more time together and do more fun things in life!
In that spirit, Caroline and I have cleared our Friday calendars so that we can take excursions to places of interest, whether it be going out for a hike or walk in a nearby park, visiting a small town to sample their shopping and restaurants, or going to local museums or historical sites. We think of it as our year round Summer Friday!
Last week we took a trip to the Lenoir Preserve in Yonkers and Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
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Lenoir Preserve is a small park, only 40 acres, but has lots to offer. It wasn’t at the top of our list of excursions (frankly it wasn’t even on the list!), but we found it because we had a 1pm appointment in Yonkers and we were looking for something close by we could visit beforehand, and it’s rectangular green space in Google Maps looked very inviting.
I’ll cut right to the chase and share the highlight of our visit, which was spotting four deer crossing through the property! Here is a video I took captures two of them looking warily at us before jumping over a stone wall into the woods.
We spent about an hour in the park, making two different walking loops which included both the main pathways and terraces, and we also spent time in the woodlands that are down the hill below the property. The pathways are easy to navigate and easy to walk, and there are several signs around that detail the history of the property and the buildings.
The paths take you past the nature center, butterfly garden, mansion, and a stone gazebo.
As the property slopes down the hill, there are several terraces with stone walls, and with paths leading down into the woodland areas of the property. There are multiple trails through the woods, with yellow and white blazes on the trees so you can properly follow them.
We wandered around and found the path that leads down to the Old Croton Aqueduct, a 26 mile path from Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx all the way up to The Croton Reservoir in Croton-on-Hudson. Caroline and I have walked many portions of the aqueduct path, but interestingly not the portion that passes by Lenoir Preserve.
The hillside is fairly steep on the Preserve property, so be careful going too far down! One of the finds we enjoyed was the teepee made of sticks in the woods.
Renovations are clearly underway to make a nice park even nicer. There are lots of benches around that appear to be new. Work was also being done on the butterfly garden as well as on the stone walls along the various terraces and workers were active at those sites on the day we visited.
An interesting note about the mansion on the property was found via the Hudson River Audubon Society of Westcheser:
“A Beautiful Mind” (2001) staring Russell Crowe was filmed here. The mansion and the lawn in back of it are featured as the mental hospital Russell’s character is confined too. In the deleted scenes on the DVD there is an extended scene showing the lawn and a few of Hudson River Audubon’s Bluebird Boxes. In the short scenes that made the movie the bluebird boxes are hidden by properly placed mental patience in the scenes. The Alder Estate next to Lenoir was used as the mailbox drop-off location for the character’s reports to the Department of Defense.
The Audubon Society also provides a really great map of the park as well as birding tips.
In all, Lenoir Preserve is a great small park for a quick walk outside and to experience nature and wildlife, and is quite accessible and easy to navigate compared to other parks. It is located just a few minutes off the Saw Mill River Parkway in north Yonkers, and plenty of parking is available.
A visit to Lenoir can be combined with other nearby outdoor parks, such as Untermyer Park and Gardens which we visited a couple of years ago. Untermyer is located just a mile or so to the south of Lenoir Preserve, and has elaborate architecture and gardens.
We are Scott and Caroline, 50-somethings who spent the first 20+ years of our adult lives in New York City, working traditional careers and raising 2 kids. We left full-time work in our mid-40’s for location-independent, part-time consulting projects and real estate investing, in order to create a more flexible and travel-centric lifestyle. 
Financial independence and early retirement is not something we originally focused on, but over time realized it was possible. Our free report, 
